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7th August 2006 Archive

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  • Nvidia readies SLI for Core 2 Duo laptops?

    Co-operative rendering, or discrete/integrated GPU switching?

    Will Intel's current mobile chipsets soon be able to support multiple Nvidia graphics chips running co-operatively? That's certainly what moles from Taiwan's contract manufacturer community have claimed. The allegation comes on the heels of indications Nvidia is working on technology to allow notebooks to use both integrated and …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 09:09

  • Accessing DB2 UDB with PHP

    Tutorial A scripting language for developing dynamic web applications (Part 1)

    A PHP: Hypertext Processor (PHP) script may be embedded in an HTML page; or run as a .php script in a web server such as Apache web server. PHP statements are included in <?php ?> tags. PHP 5.1.4 is the latest version of PHP and includes extensions for various databases; the PHP extension for DB2 UDB is available in the …

    Developer 7 Aug 2006, 09:19

  • Ericsson goes to war with Samsung

    Claims infringement of GSM, CDMA patents

    Intellectual property rights (IPR) and revenues are becoming increasingly important to the mobile equipment makers, as they look to bolster falling margins by grasping control of the development agenda for 4G, and to boost their incomes. So far, Qualcomm has been portrayed as the bad guy, as it has come under fire for its …

    Mobile 7 Aug 2006, 09:25

  • Caudwell Group sale rings up £1.46bn

    I'll get me yacht

    John Caudwell was flicking through yacht catalogues this morning after sealing the sale of his telecoms empire to a pair of private equity groups for £1.46bn. The Phones4U chain and the business-to-business operation will go to Providence Equity, a US-based firm, while UK-based Doughty Hanson will take over the 20:20 Logistics …

    Financial News 7 Aug 2006, 09:34

  • Vodafone policy shift evidence of European 3G failure

    Comment And Ofcom sanctions likely to increase operator woes

    Since the euphoria of the late 1990s, it has become increasingly clear that there will be no short term gains from 3G investment, and after operator write-downs, delays and frustrated performance expectations, UMTS is surely a failed platform, at least without the HSxPA upgrades. It was misguidedly promoted largely on the …

    Mobile 7 Aug 2006, 10:09

  • SMART-1 probe heading for crash landing

    ESA lays out path to destruction

    The European Space Agency (ESA) is plotting the demise of the SMART-1 lunar probe, the first ever European mission to the moon. ESA says the probe, which has been orbiting our largest natural satellite for almost 16 months, will be crashed into the surface on 3 September. The craft, launched in September 2003, was designed to …

    Space 7 Aug 2006, 10:21

  • Unlaunched RIM Blackberry pushed onto web

    8100 - aka 'Stealth' - surfaces

    Pictures of Research in Motion's upcoming BlackBerry 8100 camera-equipped gadget popped up on a variety of websites this weekend following what appears to be a mass email-out by a lone leaker. The snaps show the GSM/GPRS/EDGE machine in its T-Mobile colours. A number of the sites have shots, but the sharpest appear to be …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 10:33

  • Google offers malware warnings

    Watch out, there's adware about

    Google has teamed up with an anti-malware organisation to offer warnings when search results might otherwise lead surfers to sites hosting malicious code. The search engine giant is using data from the Stop Badware Coalition (StopBadware.org) to display warnings about potentially harmful sites. In this way, Google hopes to …

    Security 7 Aug 2006, 10:35

  • 3 to offer ITV on the go

    Struggling network teams up with struggling network

    3 has announced a deal with ITV to offer flagship entertainment channel ITV1 and gaming channel ITV Play via mobile TV. The deal will enable 3's 3.5m punters to endure top ITV shows like Love Island, Celebrity Wrestling, and swiftly-dumped Pip Scofield-fronted musical tosh It's Now or Never on the move. 3 has scored the rights …

    Mobile 7 Aug 2006, 10:45

  • Warner mulls bundling music DVDs with iPod-friendly songs

    Buy the disc, get the ripping done for you

    Warner Music is to sell albums on DVD rather than CD, using the extra storage capacity to include iPod-compatible copies of the songs, along with other extras, such as ringtones and music videos. The claim was made by the Wall Street Journal, which says Warner and Apple are in talks to make the move happen. It's unclear if …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 11:02

  • RIAA puts developers in the dock

    LimeWire sued

    First they came for the networks, then they came for the developers. Hoping to take advantage of last year's open-ended Supreme Court ruling on P2P software, the RIAA has filed suit against the two programmers behind the open source LimeWire project. The suit, filed in a New York District court, accuses CEO Mark Gorton and …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 11:24

  • Open Text snares Hummingbird

    Interrupted Symphony

    Open Text has outgunned rival suitor Symphony Technology Group for the hand of Hummingbird. Open Text is paying $489m cash for the enterprise content management vendor, trumping an earlier $465m agreed bid from Symphony. Open Text says that Hummingbird is a "strategic fit", but there will surely be scope for back office and …

    Applications 7 Aug 2006, 11:39

  • Record PDA shipments in Q2, claims researcher

    Not quite so black and white...

    Global PDA shipments reached a record high in Q2, market watcher Gartner said today, but is it counting correctly. We don't dispute the company's numbers, but at what point does a smart phone become a PDA and vice versa? Gartner's numbers - for what they're worth - include some BlackBerry devices, but not others. Shipments of …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 12:11

  • Nokia E70 smart phone

    Review World-beating design let down by bugs?

    Nokia's eagerly-anticipated E70 phone revives one of the company's cleverest designs, stuffs it full of bleeding-edge features, and aims it squarely at the enterprise market for the first time. It's one of the most versatile designs on offer, and appears at a time when enterprise email has matured. Unfortunately, the promise of …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 12:14

  • Bigger, dafter, creepier - Gordon Brown's ID scheme rescue plan

    Analysis Get the shops to pay for it, and catch villains for us...

    'Sources' close to Chancellor Gordon Brown are floating plans to finish off ID cards entirely in the UK - although that isn't quite how they're putting it. Instead, the advance men for the Prime Minister in waiting are offering a nightmare pitch that harnesses the private sector to implement a total surveillance system while …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 12:23

  • Chinese bar doubles as fight club

    Tsing kap-ow

    Stressed out Chinese workers are being offered the chance to vent their anger while imbibing a drop of the amber nectar at Nanjing’s first anger release bar. Rapid industrialisation is taking its toll on China’s workforce, but patrons of the Rising Sun Anger Release Bar will be able to attack staff, scream abuse and wreck …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 12:28

  • Telstra cans cable network in regulatory spat

    Doubt cast on sell-off

    Telstra has confirmed investor fears and announced its talks with Aussie regulators, aimed at paving the way for a AUS$3.1bn (£1.2bn) high speed fibre network, have collapsed. A statement from the telco said: The major stumbling block was the ACCC’s unwillingness to recognise the actual costs that Telstra incurs in providing …

    Telecoms 7 Aug 2006, 12:30

  • For sale: one used Sea Harrier jet

    All reasonable offers considered...

    We all want our homes to stand out from the crowd, and what better way to do so than by decorating your front garden with some interesting lawn ornaments? Only, we're not talking garden gnomes, stone frogs, or even wishing wells. Nope. We're talking about the ultimate accessory for the house of the 21st century: a recently …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 12:35

  • PS3 to require 'adaptor' to use PSOne, PS2 memory cards

    Support not built into $699 console

    Sony's PlayStation 3 will play "thousands" of PSOne and PS2 titles, the company has claimed, but if players want to carry over saved games, they'll need to obtain a memory card adaptor first, the Sony US PS3 website has revealed. The PS3 saves game-state data on its 20GB or 60GB hard drive as "virtual memory cards", the site …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 13:06

  • Stealth attack undermines Vista defences

    Root cause analysis

    Researchers have demonstrated how to bypass security protections in order to inject potentially hostile code into the kernel of prototype versions of Windows. The demonstration by Joanna Rutkowska, a senior security researcher with Coseinc, highlighted the possibility of loading arbitrary code into the latest Vista Beta 2 …

    Operating Systems 7 Aug 2006, 13:38

  • Infor buys Extensity, Systems Union

    Infor a penny, in for $2.1bn in revenues

    Extensity, the venture capitalist-owned business software vendor formerly known as Geac has been bought by Infor - another VC enterprise. Extensity itself bought UK firm Systems Union only this April. On paper the nascent group has revenues of $2.1bn, trailing only Oracle and SAP. Industry watchers have been surprised at a …

    Financial News 7 Aug 2006, 13:44

  • Court stops resale of software licenses in Germany

    Oracle wins infringement suit

    A German court has upheld a decision by a lower court in Munich which banned the resale of used software licenses. The Appellate Court of Munich ruled last week that the sale of used software licenses to third parties in Germany is illegal, at least in the case of software from Oracle. Oracle had sued usedSoft GmbH, a Munich …

    Channel Register 7 Aug 2006, 13:52

  • Temps to take a plunge in Leeds tomorrow

    Coldest August day on record?

    After recently recovering from last month's sweltering 188 degree heatwave, the unfortunate residents of Leeds are about to experience a dramatic about-turn in weather fortunes. In an unseasonally chilly twist, the mercury is forecast to hit its peak at a nippy 3°C tomorrow, according to the Beeb. Brrrrrrrr. Our Leeds readers …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 14:11

  • Boffins shrink giant telescope

    'Only' a 42m mirror

    European plans to build a massive optical telescope with a 100m mirror have been scaled back in favour of a 'scope with a mere 42m main reflector after the projected construction costs for the original dish reached €1.5bn. However, the planned telescope is still bigger than the one planned by the US (30m), something scientists …

    Space 7 Aug 2006, 14:31

  • Caudwell jackpot is a bet that mobile networks can't stop infighting

    Comment You scratch my eyes out, I'll scratch yours

    The astonishingly high price put on Phones4U by the equity capital community is a cynical bet on the disorganisation of the mobile networks. One straw blowing in the wind: a complaint back in June from the Digital Evangelist - an industry insider, who had been pestered by phone retailers to "upgrade his handset". This high …

    Mobile 7 Aug 2006, 14:47

  • Senate ratifies Cybercrime treaty

    'Symbolic gesture'

    The US Senate ratified the Convention on Cybercrime on Thursday, the first international treaty on computer-related crime and the gathering of electronic evidence. US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Dick Lugar said the move will enhance America's ability to join with other countries in fighting computer crime …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 15:09

  • VMware to open Windows-on-Mac tool to public testers

    Pre-registration

    Virtualisation software specialist VMware has begun asking owners of Intel-based Macs to participate in a public test of its upcoming VMware for Mac OS X utility. Testing is due to commence "later in the year", the company said. Unlike Parallels, the software developer that first shipped code to allow x86 Macs to run Windows …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 15:20

  • 419ers no longer safe on their home turf

    Arrest in Lagos

    Dutch police have arrested a 30-year-old man in Lagos, Nigeria, thought to be the mastermind behind a European advance-fee (419) scam. Dutch police arrested suspected gang members earlier this year in the Netherlands. The gang operated from Amsterdam and Zaandam and targeted mainly Americans. In February, Dutch police arrested …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 15:28

  • Atlantis crew begins launch prep

    Don't forget your toothbrush

    Preparations for the next Shuttle launch get underway with a vengeance today, as the Kennedy Space Centre readies itself for the arrival of the astronauts who will fly Atlantis when it launches later this month. The crew is scheduled to arrive this afternoon to kick off a week of checks, tests, and last minute training in …

    Space 7 Aug 2006, 15:30

  • AOL publishes database of users' intentions

    Your search history, right here

    AOL Labs prompted a weekend of hyperventilation in the 'blogosphere' by publishing the search queries from 650,000 users. This mini-scandal may yet prove valuable, however, as it reveals an intriguing psychological study of the boundaries of what is considered acceptable privacy. In his turgid book on Google - one so …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 18:50

  • Two teens charged over VA laptop theft

    Relax. It's just random

    Two US teenagers were arrested last weekend for stealing a Veterans' Administration laptop, an incident that proved a major security flap and brought calls for improved information security legislation. A thief stole the laptop from the Virginia home of a worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) during the course of a …

    ID 7 Aug 2006, 18:57

  • Apple goes all Intel all the time

    Leopard put in Time Machine

    The great Intel sell-out is now complete with Apple today revealing the new Mac Pro workstation. The Mac Pro - codenamed 'Hero', incidentally - runs on a pair of Intel's latest dual-core Xeon server processors, giving it plenty of horsepower to handle the clunky Safari browser. The box offers up twice the performance of older …

    Reg Hardware 7 Aug 2006, 20:21

  • Imagine – a cup

    Will it be a Good Friday?

    It will all be done and dusted by Friday. That is when the Microsoft Imagine Cup final reaches its final throw and we get to learn if Team Three Pair - winners of the UK end of the competition earlier this year - have had their Jenson Button moment and won the whole global shebang. Those interested in following the trials and …

    Developer 7 Aug 2006, 20:22

  • Google pays $900m to monetize children via MySpace

    Yahoo! sent! packing!

    The Google crew started huffing air into their colored balls and uncorked a few cases of bubbly today after the company ripped MySpace from Yahoo!'s clutches. Google will pay the handsome sum of $900m for the rights to supply search and keyword services to MySpace's adolescent army and other Fox Interactive Media properties. …

    Music and Media 7 Aug 2006, 22:16